Along with Spain, Britain, France, and Russia, the Netherlands was one of the small group of European powers to claim territory and establish a colony on the soil of North America. In the early seventeenth century, the Dutch were active traders who dominated Europe's commerce with the East Indies. Expansion to the New World was a natural outgrowth of their role in Asia, as in 1609 the United East India Company (VOC) engaged the English navigator, Henry Hudson to try to find a new route to the wealthy spice islands in the East.

Hudson's explorations of Staten and Manhattan Islands and what later came
to be known as the Hudson River led to further expeditions by the Dutch, who
were primarily interested in developing a profitable fur trade with the Indians.
In 1621 the Dutch government granted a charter to the West India Company (WIC)
to develop trade in the New World. The directors of the WIC subsequently decided
to establish a permanent colony, New Netherland, in the part of the North American
coast that the Dutch claimed - the area between 40 and 45 degrees latitude.
The first permanent settlers (ironically mostly French-speaking Protestant
refugees from what is now Belgium) arrived in early 1624, and began to put
down roots in parts of the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
and Connecticut.

For the next forty years, the Dutch struggled to sustain the colony. They developed a lucrative fur trade with the Indians and built villages and farms throughout the mid-Atlantic region. Attracting settlers was difficult, however, in part because pressures to emigrate from the relatively prosperous home country were limited. The growth of English settlement in neighboring New England and conflict between England and the Netherlands eventually spelled the end of New Netherland, as Governor Peter Stuyvesant was forced to surrender New Amsterdam--soon to be renamed New York--to an English fleet in 1664.

The Dutch influence on America far outlasted the end of the colony, and can be seen in the many Dutch place names in New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere; in the architectural styles introduced by the Dutch settlers; and in the continued presence of the Dutch Reformed Church. Three future presidents--Martin Van Buren, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt--were among the many prominent Americans descended from the early Dutch settlers.

Although Dutch rule in America lasted less than a century, it made a deep impression
on American literature. Dietrich Knickerbocker, the fictional author of Irving's History
of New York, gave his name to many important New York institutions, including
the New York Knicks.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919), one of three American presidents descended from the early Dutch settlers, served as president of the Police Commission of the City of New York, governor of the State of New York, and vice president of the United States before becoming president after the assassination of William McKinley in September 1901.